scholarly journals Disguised Blessings amid Covid‑19: Opportunities and Challenges for South African University Students with Learning Disabilities

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 107-118
Author(s):  
Ndakaitei Manase

The Covid‑19 pandemic has led to changes from traditional face-to-face teaching and learning to online systems. These changes have resulted in a concerted focus by local and international scholars on how some students are disadvantaged from accessing pedagogy due to a lack of resources and supportive living conditions that enable meaningful off‑campus learning. Simultaneously, disabilities in higher education is getting international attention, too, highlighting how students with disabilities are vulnerable to further exclusions and mental health problems. This article focuses on the pedagogical arrangements during the Covid‑19 pandemic and the challenges and opportunities associated with online and remote learning for university students with learning disabilities. The article draws on the narratives of fifteen students with learning disabilities from a university in South Africa. An analysis of students’ narratives within the Capability Approach’s concept of conversion factors revealed how circumstances could enable or constrain students’ abilities to achieve what they value in higher education. Students’ narratives show that they engage better with online and remote learning despite some notable challenges. In conclusion, the pedagogical arrangements aimed at alleviating the disruptions caused by the Covid‑19 pandemic can address the unmet educational needs of students with learning disabilities even though they have to overcome specific barriers.

Author(s):  
Wanda M. Hadley

Students with learning disabilities are one of the fastest growing student population attending colleges and universities. Students with learning disabilities in the pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade (PK-12) educational system are protected by the Education of All Handicapped Children Act of 1975 and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEIA) of 1990/Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEIA) of 2004. Conversely, when students with learning disabilities transition to higher education they are no longer covered by these legislations. Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 prohibit colleges and universities from discriminating against students with disabilities and mandate that accommodations be provided. The types and levels of accommodations and services offered in higher education, however, are not as extensive as those required to be provided in the PK-12 system. This article comes from a four-year study of the same group of 10 first-year students with dyslexia and/or reading problems. It chronicles their adjustments to the academic expectations of the college environment as they transitioned from high school to college. Chichering (1969; Chickering & Reisser, 1993) provies the theoretical framework for the study. The study begins durign the students' first year of college and concludes four years later when the students are seniors preparing to graduate. Questions in the study were asked of the students over a four-year period.


2021 ◽  
pp. 105345122110018
Author(s):  
Jonte C. Taylor ◽  
Jiwon Hwang

The need for all students to have science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics (STEAM) experiences has translated into research examinations of what strategies and practices work in learning STEAM-related concepts and ideas. Through research, effective frameworks, strategies, and additional considerations have been identified for teaching and learning STEAM for students with learning disabilities and emotional/behavioral disorders. Along with understanding how to apply teaching and learning frameworks and using specific strategies for science, technology, engineering, the arts, and mathematics, the authors provide details on how to differentiate instruction for remote teaching.


Author(s):  
Serefete Molosiwa ◽  
Sourav Mukhopadhyay ◽  
Emmanuel Moswela

Every student has a right to access the general curriculum to realize the aims of education for sustainable development. Accessing the general curriculum remains a critical component in the teaching and learning process of learners with learning disabilities and difficulties. Existing literature indicates that teachers must use suitable strategies to accommodate curriculum needs for students with learning disabilities and difficulties. This paper analyses how curriculum access for students with learning disabilities and difficulties has been promoted and achieved in the context of Botswana. The focus of this paper is therefore to outline the progress made so far towards enhancing curriculum access to the general education curriculum for learners with disabilities and difficulties.


2010 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 47
Author(s):  
Truong Trinh

This paper describes how the international, national and institutional conditions affect the primary processes of teaching and learning in the Vietnamese higher education institutions. Under such influences, the Vietnamese higher education institutions are facing both challenges and opportunities in terms of the competitions among institutions. establishment of credit-based system, quality assurance and accreditation.


2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nageswara Rao Ambati

The present study is an exploratory in nature. The papers aims to understand the attitudinal barriers encountered by students with disabilities in higher education institutions and its impact on their learning experiences. The study was conducted in the erstwhile State of Andhra Pradesh (now bifurcated in to Andhra Pradesh and Telangana), India. For this study, the researcher selected three universities in different parts of Andhra Pradesh by using purposive sampling. In the second phase the researcher interviewed 100 students with disabilities from the selected universities by using snowball sampling. For this study, quantitative and qualitative data analyses were used and in most cases quotes of real text for each theme were maintained and used extensively. The findings of the paper covered characteristics of students with disabilities, attitudinal barriers faced by them. The findings of the study suggests that changes are needed to be made, not only in the physical environment in which teaching and learning takes place, but also in the way in which higher education curriculum is organised, delivered and assessed and changes should also come in attitudes of teachers, university administration, peer group and public at large.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 388-400
Author(s):  
Yana Diachkova ◽  
Lilia Sazhko ◽  
Liudmyla Shevchenko ◽  
Anastasiia Syzenko

In English for Specific Purposes, one of the challenges is to transform teaching and learning into a process, which focuses on the development of professional skills, enables students to become successful learners of the target language, and makes them more aware of the local and global environments. This paper aims to analyse key challenges that teachers and learners face in the classrooms and suggest a way of integrating global issues into the process of development of professional soft and hard skills. The paper studies the existing ESP literature in terms of presence of global issues, explores the perceptions of global issues among university students in Ukraine, outlines the correlation between professional skills and global competence. The findings suggest that there are numerous advantages of introducing materials based on global issues into the teaching process as it has synergetic effect of fusing professional skills, soft skills and global competence. The paper concludes that this fusion improves the skill set of a future professional and has a positive impact on the quality of higher education in general.


2019 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 123-140
Author(s):  
Ronit Mandelblit

SummaryStudies show the very high probability that a child with learning disabilities will grow up to be an adult with learning disabilities and will experience difficulties in his academic or professional studies and in the world of employment. Today, there is an increase in the number of students with learning disabilities in academic institutions in Israel and around the world, with the extent of students with learning disabilities in Israel being estimated at up to 15% of diagnosed students. The article discusses the problem that most studies address children and teens with learning disabilities, while knowledge about coping with students with learning disabilities in the higher education system is limited. Moreover, there seems to be no uniform policy on supporting these students. The article is addressed to policymakers and lawmakers in Israel’s higher education system, with the aim of presenting current support and proposing changes and improvements intended for these students.


2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 478-483
Author(s):  
Pattaraporn Jamsai

Purpose of Study: The purpose of this study was to examine Thai secondary teacher attitudes towards inclusion of students with learning disabilities in general education classrooms. Methodology: The researcher collected quantitative data using a questionnaire with 28 Likert-type scale questions, adapted from the Opinions Relative to Integration of Students with Disabilities (ORI) as well as information related to training in special education, experience, and workload. The participants were comprised of a representative group of 370 secondary teachers from all regions of Thailand. Most participants indicated that they were female general education teachers and had a Bachelor’s degree. Main Finding: Through multiple linear regression, the findings showed that Thai secondary teachers generally held a positive attitude towards the inclusion of students with learning disabilities into general education classrooms. All three independent variables (hours of training, years of teaching experience, and hours of workload) were significant predictors of teachers’ attitudes towards inclusive classrooms, though the hours of workload was the strongest predictor. Applications: The study was conducted to better understand the variables that are meaningful to teachers’ attitudes toward inclusion.


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